WNBA star reflects, encourages winning on and off the court
“Are you in it to win it? Or are you in it to participate?” asked Cynthia Cooper, Phoenix Mercury head coach, former player for the WNBA’s Houston Comets’ and guest speaker in the Arts and Lectures Series Wednesday.
Cooper, also known as “The Coop,” is a three-time league MVP and has led the Houston Comets to two consecutive national championships. However, in the forum, Cooper related her above questions to more than playing basketball.
“It’s [winning’s] not only in basketball, it’s in life, it’s in the classroom,” she said.”I will do anything I have to do to win, legally,” she said.
Aside from her leading role on the Houston Comets, Cooper is a wife, mother and business executive.
“I’ve enjoyed success on every level,” she said. “What you do in tough moments will determine your level of success.”
She told a story to demonstrate her winning capabilities, on and off the court. Her mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer in March 1997, and Cooper was going to all the chemotherapy treatments with her mother while still playing in the WNBA.
She said she “turned something negative into something positive.”
Following the days she spent going to the hospital and hitting the basketball courts, her house burned down. Fortunately, her nieces and nephews, who were in the house, were “okay,” she said. She said she ended up taking them to her other house.
A few months later, her best friend was dying, she said.
Her personal accounts with challenges helped her demonstrate for the audience, “What tough times are,” she said.
“Don’t rely on people … rely on you,” she said.
After dealing with her mother undergoing chemotherapy, her house burning down and her best friend dying, she gained about 20 to 30 pounds, she said.
Cooper said there are two things which have gotten her through tough times.
First, she always surrounded herself with positive people, friends, “people who are going to make you a better person,” she said.
The second thing she said is, “I believe in me.”
She said her biggest motivations are passion, heart and determination.
“When you do it with passion, it’s easier to do,” she said.
She first became interested in playing basketball after observing a girl playing at the gym. When asked about her goals while playing, she said her goal was always to make her mother proud.
How do students balance academics and sports?
In concluding the forum, she said, “Education can take you everywhere sports can’t take you.”